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HOW 500 WERE
CAPTURED AND
BEHEADED.
IN the skirmish which took place
last month between the Germans
and Chinese at Kiaochau the dis
3 patches state that among: the kill
_£_ ed was a scarred Chinese who sub
sequently turned out to be a for
mer pirate chief, one of the lead
ers of the terrible band that* was wiped
out by the British in l>>f>o. He was
known as Lun Tai. Although he was
most notorious and has had a price set
on his head for years he managed to
elude the European coast guards until
his accidental death in the recent skir
mish that ended in the German marines
seizing the important post.
Captain George E. Jackson, who
served in the campaign that wiped out
the last famous stronghold of the pi
rates, remembers Lun Tai well and the
prominent figure he cut In the Inces
sant assaults on English commerce in
the China seas. It was one of Lun
Tai's bold raids that led to a combina
tion the English war vessels
and the Chinese regular soldiers for a
i action against the murderous
pirates. Efforts were made at the
•o capture Lun Tai, for he was
known to be the head, front and brains
of the most tricky, most daring and
most heartless gang of pirates that
bs merchants along
the Chinese main. After the famous
engagement of the pirates' stronghold
the dead were all carefully examined,
but Lun Tai, the fox, was not among
Months afterward it transpired
that Just before the trap was sprung
that penned the pirates within the
small bay before their mud forts Lun
Tai had received warning from som<> of
the very Chinese that the British had
sent forward as snies.
Of that three days' stubborn fight
with the cornered pirates, of their d^s
struggles to escape when
hummed in and of the execution of
about 400 survivors afterward by the
Chinese authorities, Captain Jackson
tells as follows:
"Lun Tai was the cleverest and blg
: are-devil among that punk-smell
ing, gong-beating crew of heathen
devils. They killed and plundered from
sheer delight in such work. Many's the
crew they smothered bet
decks with their pestilential stinkpots,
iany*s the poor fellow that has
saved himself a worse death by simply
jumping 1 overboard to drown. Jim Moss
did that, but he came out all right, if
he wag nearly dead for a time, and it
was his <-scape, I guess, that led to the
ttack on Lun Tai and his fiends,
rstand that all of them that
led up were directly under
Tai. There were some 1500
last stand in their junks and
ti ir mud forts.
ne of a lot of Independ
ent freebooters th;:t we cornered there,
but he was the one ■•■<■ were most anx
ious to l.ury under the ruins of tin ir
nd junks.
. ilif' daily papers
n and the
Bharp air of this season of th
•
up all
tlon. v.
the ne itches
and •  . ... ,. ;i ij
hunted for him in that fight, 1 wdn
if That old f ■ ■ i) kill.'d
hamming.
■ c ['d ac
■
ation that he
that last flghl with the pi
■ have bi then. They
th to J^in the ■
c to 1
the Black [f he
did tl tight sight
of him in Tonquln.
about this way: IJ. M.
on which I was an officer,
: Mp ;'t
WTchoul any loss of life
■ ■
i unks
': • nuance of
of darkness
and r eh sailir
i ■ tured oui
lid ewoop down and ioot
them.
"As we were p fl jd a big bounty for
pvery Junk captured, money and cham
LAST STAND OF 1500 DESPERATE CHINESE PIRATES
pagne were more plentiful than hard
tack. According to my log book it was
on April 2.*, just after we had finished
dinner and were singing 'Easy, My
Man, Easy.' that a chines.' fishing
boat slid alongside of us. The crew
save us to understand that they had
a 'while devil' very sick on board.
We lowered the ropes. The sick man
appeared at first Bight to be dead, h
waa only after the Bhip Burgeon had
worked over him for hours that he
could tell us the Btrange circumstances
that had thrown him into the hands of
the Chinese fishermen.
"Emaciated and changed through his
sufferings we hardly recognized him
as a Mr. Moss, who but a few days be
fore had left Hongkong in a brig load
ed with valuahl-- m< rchandise, bound
"SHOOT THAT FELLOW IN THE MASTHEAD!" ORDERED THE CAPTAIN. THEN WE ALL JUMPED FOR THE JUNK-
for Japan. The brig was manned with
sixteen as good sailors as ever climbed
the ropes, and we knew that it was a
case <>f 'pirates.'
"The cunning devils, as usual, had
waited until the brig waa well out of
Hongkong and Just off Ninepin Rocks.
On the mastheads of the Junks the pi
rates had stationed men with baskets
filled with stinkpots, a chemical com
position of suffocating properties
which they put into bags, light with a
fuse and throw on the decks of th<
sels they are attacking. The chemical
gases that arise kill any one who in
hales them.
"< )ne by one the sailors fell as the
pirates rained the stinkpots on th>
deck of the brig. Moss, the supercargo,
was the only one who had not f
He seemed to be protected by ume
special providence. With a last look
at his dead companions, he leaped Into
the water, preferring death in that
way. In an instant the pirates saw
him. Yelling with rage, they thn-w
their spears at him. Just then a v.
hove in sight, and without waiting to
loot the brig the pirates hoisted sail
and disappeared as suddenly as they
had come.
'Moss was a strong swimmer, and
though he was badly wounded, by
■ human efforts he managed to
make th<=> seven miles to Ninepin Rocks.
Near there he was picked up by the
Chinese fisherman. He fell uncon
scious as soon as they laid hands on
him.
'When Mosb told his story our com- i
mander, with a mighty thump on the !
said: 'This kind of work by
those devils must stop right here. !
We've j-'"t to dear this part of the seas
of them:' And without more ado he
ed up the officers and beeran out- '
lining plans for a vigorous campaign
-t the sea, v bberm,
rlj next morning we set off to
hunt up thp brig and her sixteen dead
sailors. The brutality about it all had
irmarks of Lun Tai'p work. We
came upon her toward noon. What a
fearful sight it was! I wish I could
blot it out forever. The blood-stnin.-d
decks and the sailors lying in heaps or I
side by side.
"Well, we took the brig back to port
and- burled the boys with prayers that
straight from the heart. We
pretty well cut up from Hence j
been through, T>m standing by
their graves we'd made up our minds
to sal] Op to Pirates' Hay and wipe
every one of the miserable rases Is from
O< th<- eai Ih.
ir Pearl, was of too heavy
draught to us.- againsi the pirates'
junks, which i Into very
shallow water, but lying alongaid
us In the harbor were three gunb
the Firm, the Haughty and
We held another discussion
and <';ipt;>in John Bortaiae asked the
men whether they would go up in the i
thi"" gunboats and fight 'until there
v. -isn't ■ pig-tailed pirate !.-ft.' fou
should have heard th" 'Ay, aye, sir!" ;
It woke half of Hongkong up. That
was the last "aye, aye' Of some of the
poor fellows.
"The Pearl, commanding the squad
ron, with the three gunboats
sailed up I •■ . Th%re Captain
Borlalse saw the mayor, Taa Tai, who
assured him that he was as anxious ;us
•ne were to Bee the pirates exterminat
ed, but ' what can I do?' he said. 'I
have no boats. That pig Lun Tai j
laughs at me. But I tell you. You fur- i
THE SAX FRANCISCO C ALT,, SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, IS9B.
nish the boats and I will furnish the
men on land, and you must promise to
catch Lun Tai alive fnr me so 1 can
chop off his head and hang it on the
wall.'
"So he stnt out his spies, who re
turned with a description of the pi
rates' stronghold, which was twenty
five miles to the northwest of Bwatow.
it consisted of several fortifications,
mud forts, and breastworks, armed
with odds and ods of cannon, bought,
stolen and looted.
"Tas Tai, according to his promise.
placed a large force of Chinese regu
lars in the pass of the hills back of the
pirates' stronghold, so that those at
tempting to escape that way could be
captured.
"I know now that one of these spies
sent out by Tas Tai warned that okd
fox, Lun Tai. of the trap we wer.> pre
paring for him. But
th*-n. and \v< s*-t about drawing tl
so as to capture every one of those
pirates. The ton en on the
boats numbered about 500 m-n all told.
"The bour the land forces set out to
blockade the hills back of the ;
nest we sailed up the coast to blockade
the entrance of the bay and k
the junks.
The sun was just rising as we ap
proached the buy. six miles to the
southeast the Pearl bad to remain at
anchor, the water was so shalk.-w.
"The pirates wcm ready f.., .
thirty junks of all sizes flying innu
merable nags set up a deafening
ing of gongs. They clanged them at
THE FIVE HUNDRED PIRATES WERE ALL LED OUT ON THE PLAIN AND BEHEADED.
a tremendous rate, for this it waa be
lieved would insure them success.
"We were prepared for their first
assault with the deadly stinkpots. A
pirate at the junk's masthead lifted
one, but before II could be thrown we
at them with a stream of boiling
water. Again and again they attempt
hurl them, always to be met by
the hot water which put out the fuse
and mad" the stinkpot harmless. At
;. they saw the fruitlessness of
it. and, yelling and cursing like de
mons, they poured a savage fire on us
from the earthworks on shore and
showered tn<* sringals from the junks.
We got at them hot and heavy, and for
a time it was give and take, hot work,
too, for th^-y fnr outnumbered us and
fought like madmen. All day long the
contest raged, but our superior arms
at hist began to tell. At nightfall we
I'.ith r.-st>-<l and reorganized. They
were fierce and res. | we knew
it wag going to be a light to the finish
lay with no quarter. They threw
thousand of gay-colored scraps of pa
;•• r into i 1i 1 a rite *-yen more sa
cred than the ringing of the gonf
show the Bplrii that animated
them.
'At br.-ak of day we wore at it again.
FT"w the rascals fought! They hurled
their spears and gurgals with the
strength of demons. v>'V a time it
! a bit ticklish for us. They
bt so stubbornly I began to think
would'nt quit till every man Jack
of them was cut to i - Twice men
standing n^xt to me f>-l! wounded.
Once I heard some one say "My God!'
and I saw the man back of me trying
awkwardly to pull the trigger of his
gun. and for the first tirr.e he noticed
that three of his fingers were shot
away.
"\re realized that defeat meant some
horrible death, and we fought desper
ately to escape it.
"According to my log book we finally
drove those pirates who escaped from
the disabled junks onto the shore. We
lost ten men and several more were
mortally wounded. As near as we could
make out not more than 500 pirates
ever reached the shore.
"On the third morning, under cover
of constant firing from the gunboats,
we lowered launches armed with ma
rines and made for the shore on the
right, thus flanking the pirates, who
expecting us to land in front
where they had strewn 'crowsfeet' for
our hem-lit. These 'crowsfeet' consist
of six pointed highly seasoned pieces of
bamb >o, sharper than a needle's point,
capable of penetrating the toughest
leather arid inflicting torturous wounds
on th»> feet. Had w« not escaped this
trap the day would undoubtedly have
gone against us.
• We were now about evenly matched
in numbers, and the pirates were still
as determined to win as we were, but
their smail swords and iron headed
spears were their only weapons.
"It was now a hand to hand fight.
The pirates called into play every cun
ning trick at their command. I jumped
over a seemingly dead pirate only to
reel -with a sharp thrust from his spear
in my side. Undoubtedly he would
have killed me before I could have
turned, for I never suspected the trick,
but a marine several paces behind us
saw his act and bayoneted the wily
fellow before he could jab me again.
"When neither cunning tricks nor the
absolute disregard of death could keep
them they began to give way in
bunches and, well nigh exhausted our
selves, we drove them from their stock
ade and up the hills. That was shov
ing them out of the frying pan into the
fire, for on the brow of the hill the Chi
nese regulars were drawn up waiting
for them.
"But our own •work was not over. Our
wounded had to be carried to the gun
boats and then every vestige of the
stronghold of the pirates had to be de
stroyed. In razing their fortifications
our first lieutenant set fire to a house.
He did not know gunpowder was stored
in it. He was blown clear over seve
ral houses. He landed in a pond of
water and except for a bad burning es
caped all right. We took all the flags
and gongs in sight and then sank all
the junks.
"A big reward had been offered for
Lun Tai, dead or alive, but as I said
before, we did not catch him. When
we boarded our own vessels we had
hopes that the Chinese regulars would
capture him. Under orders of their
major they- were specially anxious to
catch the cunning villain.
"We got back to the harbor of Swa
tow in time to see the captured pirate?
marched in, all dragging heavy chains;
they were battered, ragged and covered
with blood, they looked the fighting
devils they were.
"Tas Tai, the Mayor, summoned all
the inhabitants of his district on the
plain before the town and all the cap
tured pirates, about 450. were beheaded
as a warning to all sea robbers.
"I never expect to see such a scene
again.
"Men chosen for the purpose gath
ered up the severed heads of the pi
rates, and placed them at equal dis
tances around the walls of Swatow,
where they hung for three days. It
was horrible, but from that time pi
rates ceased their depredations in that
locality.
"Tas Tai ought to have been satisfied,
but he was not. After looking at the
long rows of heads upon the walls he
declared that he would rather have
L:in Tai's head than all the others put
together. He was fearful that that
scheming marauder would raid Swa
tow and take a terrible vengeance, and
he begged our officers to give him the
protection of the gunboats for some
weeks. But Lun Tai kept away.
I guess the quick and clean
work we made of that pirate strong
hold was a wholesome lesson to him,
as it certainly was to the migratory
pirates who before that used to period
ically raid that region. We never saw
his ugly face again anywhere near
Hongkong, and T guess the rumor was
true that he and his junk full of dare
devils drifted Tonquinward in search
of booty.
"Tf the Germans nailed him by acci
dent or otherwise in Kiaochau they
hr.ye done a work that every merchant
on tho coast of China wanted to see
dune many years ago."
GREAT LONDON FIRES.
Ever since the "Great Fire" of 1666
London has been the scene of many
terrible conflagrations, and It is not
going too far to state that it is owing
to her well-equipped and efficient fire
brigade, with its sixty-one stations
spread over the Metropolitan area, that
she has not been visited with a similar
catastrophe. That historic fire de
stroyed some eighty-eight churches
and 13.200 houses, burning old St.
Paul's, the Royal Exchange, the custom
house, and other notable buildings.
A glance from that period down
ward till the last great fire which has
Just occurred in the neighborhood of
Aldersgate street, many memorable
HOW LUN TAI,
THE WILY ONE,
ESCAPED,
outbreaks are recorded. The great
Tooley street fire probably stands pre
eminent. It broke out at Cotton's
Wharf on June 22, IS6I, and continued
burning for a month. Mr. Braidwood,
the then chief of the Metropolitan Fire
Brigade, was killed by some falling
debris, and some other twenty persons
lost their lives. The damage was es
timated at more than £2,000,000.
On New Year's Day, 186$, another
riverside fire broke out at St. Kathar
ine's docks. This was not got under
control without much difficulty, though,
fortunately, no lives were lost. Her
Majesty's Theater was burned on De
cember 6, 1867, and the Oxford Music
Hall suffered the same fate some two
months later.
The year 1882 has been described as
"the year of fires." During this period
the flre brigade had their hands full,
and they had to tackle no fewer than
seven conflagrations which threatened
to be of a serious nature. The Wood
street fire which broke out on Decem
ber 18 was probably the biggest of all.
It burned for torty-eight hours, in
which time property to the value of
more than two million pounds sterling
was destroyed. Whiteley's in West
bourne Grove was the scene of two
fires, one occurring on November 17,
involving a destruction of £100,000
worth of property, and the other,
which broke out on Boxing Day, also
did great havoc. Two theaters were
destroyed in this year, the Philhar
monic Theater at Islington in Septem
ber, and the Alhambra Theater on De
cember 11, at which latter three per
sons lost their lives. On the 17th of
the same month St. John's Church,
Forest Hill, was totally destroyed.
Others could be mentioned, but the
foregoing show what the fire brigade
had to face in that "year of fires."
The next great outbreak was the
famous Paternoster Row fire, which oc
curred on April 2, 1884. The fire spread
with great rapidity, and those who wit
nessed it will remember how the dome
of St. Paul's was brilliantly illumin
ated. More than a dozen warehouses
were destroyed, including the extensive
premises of Faudel and Phillip, Wil
liams, and Smith Brothers.
A fire which occurred in the early
morning of April 24. 1885. at 194 Union
street, Borough, and known as the
"'Borough fire," is rendered memorable
through the heroic conduct of a serv
ant girl. This brave young woman
saved the lives of her master's three
children, but was dreadfully burned
in doing so. She died three days later.
She was literally besieged with letter
and telegrams of inquiry and condol
ence from all parts of the United
Kingdom, one coming from the Queen
and another from the Princess of
Wales. It is believed she received more
than 3000 such letters.
Three memorable outbreaks occurred
in 1889; the Milton street fire, on May 6,
doing damage to the extent of £250,
000; the Charterhouse Square fire; and
the Forest Gate Industrial School sad
catastrophe, at which twenty lads lost
their lives.
The Queen Victoria street fire, which
broke out on December 30. 1890, differed
from all those that preceded it. The
weather was of Arctic severity, and
the firemen became incased from hel
mets to boots in coats of glass-like
mail, the sprays from the nozzles
quick' y turning to ice. Captain Shaw
looked like a veritable Santa Claus go
ing about with thousands of icicles
clinging to his hair and beard. Next
morning the ruins presented a most
picturesque appearance, being coated
with millions of icicles. Following
close on this fire was the St. Mary
Axe outbreak of July, 1893. when dam
age was done to the extent of a quar
ter of a million sterling.
Nickel is a modern metal. It was not
in use nor known of till 1715. It has
now largely taken the place of silver
in plated ware, and as an alloy with
steel it is superior to any other metal,
for it is r.ot only non-corrodible itself.
but it transfers the same quality to
steel; even when combined as low as 5
per cent it prevents oxidation.
21